“I met many young and talented people with kind hearts. I am grateful for the warm welcome and hope to stay in sunny Tashkent again this year,” he wrote.

He also said that he is proud of the popularity of Telegram in Uzbekistan.

“People in Uzbekistan love Telegram: more than 70% of the country’s 37 million population use Telegram, and their entire economy runs on our platform (every business in the country has a bot or channel on Telegram). We are proud of such popularity and mutually love Uzbekistan,” the founder of Telegram said.

Durov also noted that he was amazed by the modern infrastructure of the rapidly developing Tashkent, the mountain landscapes of Eastern Uzbekistan and the rich history of Bukhara and Samarkand.